Our Mission

The Mission of the Institute is to provide an independent forum for those who dare to read, think, speak, and write in order to advance the professional, literary, and scientific understanding of sea power and other issues critical to national defense.

Key Initiatives

Reich, Eli T. (1913-1999)

Catalog Title:

Reich, VAdm. Eli T., U.S. Navy (Ret.) Volume I and II

Reich, Eli T. (1913-1999)

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Volume I

Based on 11 interviews conducted by John T. Mason, Jr., from April 1978 through January 1979. The volume contains 520 pages of interview transcript plus an index. The transcript is copyright 1982 by the U.S. Naval Institute; the interviewee has placed no restrictions on its use.

Volume I covers Admiral Reich's career prior to 1963. He was graduated from submarine school in 1939 and assigned to the submarine Sealion. In Manila in December 1941, he was lunching on a ship in the harbor, when the Sealion (which he had left moments before) was demolished by Japanese bombs. His descriptions of submarine experience in the Pacific and Sea of Japan are graphic and detailed as are his experiences in destroyers. He concludes his volume with his command of the missile cruiser Canberra and his fight to uncover the flaws in the Terrier missile system. It was this experience that led him inevitably to the job as "czar" of the investigative study of the 3-Ts--Tartar, Terrier, and Talos--which continues in Volume II.

Reich, Eli T. (1913-1999)

Vice Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Volume II

Based on 15 interviews conducted by John T. Mason, Jr., from February 1979 through January 1980. The volume contains 681 pages of interview transcript plus an index. The transcript is copyright 1982 by the U.S. Naval Institute; the interviewee has placed no restrictions on its use.

Continues career in 1963 when the admiral was Director, Surface Missile Systems Project, followed by his tour as Commander Antisubmarine Warfare Group Five in Southeast Asia. He then was assigned to Washington as Director of the Logistic Plans Division and as Acting Comptroller of the Navy. Prior to his retirement in 1973 he was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Production, Engineering and Material Acquisition). Later he was appointed Administrator of the Office of Petroleum Allocation in the Department of Interior and then was a consultant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense where he was given special cognizance over shipbuilding problems and contracts.